Case Study: City of Columbia achieves NERC compliance and resilient protection of critical public services with Fortinet

Fortinet Security Fabric Protecting Critical Public Services and Complying with Utility Industry Standards

The City of Columbia, Missouri (population ~150,000) needed to protect critical public services and utility operations—including water, sewage and electricity—while meeting stringent NERC standards and safeguarding residents’ sensitive data and SCADA systems across a complex vendor environment. The city required visibility and strict access controls to prevent unauthorized access and ensure continuity of essential services.

Columbia implemented the Fortinet Security Fabric—FortiGate NGFWs, FortiClient EMS, FortiAnalyzer, FortiWeb and training—to automate access control, endpoint management, VPN-based remote access and web protection. The integrated solution delivered 100% automated enforcement and improved visibility, enabling NERC compliance, blocking unauthorized/vendor subcontractor access, mitigating DDoS threats, increasing service resiliency and endpoint uptime, and reducing support overhead.

City of Columbia

John Maier

Senior Network Engineer